Pluck It - Southeast Ruby 2017

How many times have you written the same bits of code, over and over, and thought, “You know, if only this was big enough to be a gem, I would pluck it out.” Often, we think of a RubyGem as a larger library of code that we “bolt on” to an app. And, these smaller code blobs become a hassle to distribute to the multiple apps that use them.

A small micro-library, done the right way, at the right time, can greatly improve an app.

But, when can you benefit from extracting a micro-library? And, how do you build and publish that code into a RubyGem? I’ll go through the process, from A to Z.

Transcript

1. @adamcuppy codingzeal.com
2. github.com/acuppy @adamcuppy
3. speakerdeck.com/ acuppy
4. Pluck It Extracting micro-libraries and building rubygems @AdamCuppy
7. Add /lib/gravatar.rb
8. Moved from app/models/user.rb
10. https://rubygems.org/
11. It’s a simple package: a self-contained collection of one or more files. rubygem:
12. http://bundler.io/
13. /path/to/myapp/Gemfile
14. $ bundle install RubyGems
15. App Bundle $ bundle install Bundler + RubyGems + MyApp RubyGems.org rails-5.1 rspec-core-3.2 Private Gem Server priv_gem-1.0 priv_gem2—1.0
18. $ bundle gem hash_diff ——test
19. $ bundle gem hash_diff ——test
20. $ bundle gem hash_diff ——test
21. $ bundle gem hash_diff ——test
22. $ bundle gem hash_diff ——test
23. $ bundle help gem
27. $ cd /path/to/my_gem $ bundle install $ rake
32. Build: $ cd /path/to/my_gem $ gem build hash_diff.gemspec
33. Publish: $ gem push hash_diff-0.1.0.gem
34. $ bundle exec rake release
35. https://rubygems.org/gems/hash_diff
36. /path/to/myapp/Gemfile
37. $ cd /path/to/myapp $ bundle install
38. I’m Famous!
40. 1. Modify code 2. Increment VERSION constant 3. Rebuild and Release 4. Update apps: $ cd /path/to/app; bundle update my_gem New Release
41. 1. Isolation from app code 2. Manage upgrades 3. Community support Pros…
42. Extraction encourages isolation; isolation encourages a simple interface; and, a simple interface is more maintainable.
43. 1. External dependencies to manage 2. Add’l development overhead 3. Community support Cons…
44. When is the “right time?”
45. It’s when the cost of maintaining an internal library, exceeds the cost of maintaining an external dependency.
46. https://rubygems.org/gems/trueman
47. https://rubygems.org/gems/gravasaurus_hex
48. https://rubygems.org/gems/hash_diff
49. http://guides.rubygems.org/
50. http://bundler.io
51. podcast.codingzeal.com We discuss an interesting article or link from the week in the world of business, software, teams and open source